Bookies play down Bluebirds’ chances of Prem promotion
BOOKIES have written off Cardiff City’s hopes of securing promotion into the promised land of the Premier League next season.
Neil Warnock staged a remarkable rescue act having taken the club from 23rd place to 12th after replacing sacked boss Paul Trollope in October.
He has made no secrets of his desire for the Bluebirds to challenge for promotion during the 2017-18 campaign and is set to bolster his squad in the summer transfer window in a bid to strengthen Cardiff’s chances of going up.
But it seems the bookies are not expecting Cardiff to be in the mix at the top end of the table next season, with Sky Bet offering odds of 9/1 for the Bluebirds to be promoted next season, with 14 sides currently at lower figures to go up.
Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa are the current 9/4 favourites to be promoted next season along with the likes of relegated Premier League sides Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
But a host of clubs who finished below Warnock’s men in the 201617 table are being tipped to have a better chance of being promoted than Cardiff next season.
Wolves, Bristol City, Ipswich, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham and Nottingham Forest all finished below the Bluebirds last season, but bookies are offering shorter odds on those sides than Cardiff to be promoted.
The same occurs when looking at the chances of sides winning the Championship, with Aston Villa the current 7/1 favourites.
And Cardiff are priced at 33/1 to win the title next season, the same odds offered for Bolton - recently promoted from League One - to taste glory in the division.
Even Warnock’s former side Sheffield United - recently crowned champions of League One - have shorter (20/1) odds of winning the title than Cardiff do next season.
The numbers will be of no concern to Warnock who has defied the odds on numerous occasions during the course of his managerial career.
Speaking ahead of his side’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle at Cardiff City Stadium in April, the Yorkshireman said: “I can see it being a lot more of an even league next season, with the teams coming down and big clubs coming up like Sheffield United and Bolton.
“It won’t be an easy league next year, but I can’t see any outstanding teams.”
“I will imagine we’ll be mid-table bookies wise next year because there will be some big teams, big clubs, and it will be difficult to get into that top area.
“But that’s what we’ve got to strive for – first of all to get into that top 10, then the top six.
“That’s why I’m here, to have an opportunity like that.”